Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fairy Tail

When Gray woke up the next day, he found himself studying Natsu more closely than he'd like to admit. He stared at the dragon slayer, locking his gaze on those black eyes before speaking. "I spoke with Moka last night. Seems like he doesn't want us to help him anyway, so sending Lucy back alone was pointless."

"What? Come on, what sort of person wants to be cursed?" Natsu grumbled, shaking his head. He really did have the same eyes as Zeref, even if Gray never noticed it before.

Likely the only family trait we share. Natsu took after our father, while I inherited most of my appearance from Mother. He seemed to pause again. It seems harmless enough to share and you seem curious. Perhaps knowing will prevent you from rashly suspecting someone who should be a good friend of yours.

"I'm not gonna just suddenly—" Gray broke off, grimacing and shaking his head. "Sorry. I've been talking with Zeref for a while."

"About what? His demonic creations? I find it highly unlikely that the man has anything useful to say," Lyon said.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Gray sighed. "Maybe not, but it's still interesting." Maybe, it'd give him another way out. Zeref actually thanked him for something yesterday and for a moment, he'd almost felt guilty about what was happening. It was a start that might lead to Zeref letting him do what he wanted and choosing some other option. "Anyway, I did get other information from Moka before I left. Unfortunately, he can't share much about Zeref or his curse, given the spell on him. He seemed to struggle to get through what little he did pass along."

"And what was that? Do you have details on what we are searching for now?" Erza asked.

"I don't have a name, but I got a description." Gray looked over at her, though he hesitated before reciting anything. "Zeref…you alright if I say that out loud again? That seemed to be what started your whole break down yesterday."

Oh, I have no issue with you speaking about it. My issue lies with Moka, not you, so feel free to proceed as you wish.

Nodding, Gray glanced back over at her. "Zeref doesn't have control over his death magic, so long as he actually cares about living things. While I don't have info on the immortality side of things, I do have info on that much. It at least narrows down a branch of magic to start with." Pausing, he frowned. "Moka seemed to think that Phantom Lord might have some knowledge on it, based on what their founder looked into a while ago. Not certain at all how it relates, but I'm not gonna push aside a lead without investigating a bit."

"Sounds like a plan." Natsu grinned. "Phantom Lord has been competing with Fairy Tail for the number one guild spot for years now. I'll bet they'd be happy to have a chance to spar against us to prove themselves in return for a little bit of knowledge."

Oh, they are far more likely to want you destroyed. Based on the story I heard, I'd bet that Geoffrey was investigating Mavis' use of Law. It seems rather fitting and as Moka said, if the man determined how to utilize that variation of the spell at the time…he would understand things quite well. There was a pause. Given what I'm aware of, I'm almost confident that he did not manage to gain such knowledge. You do realize this means you are going on a rather purposeless quest, don't you?

"Yeah, you say that about everything and then you tell me to do something ridiculous like destroy the moon. Sorry, but I've just come to accept that you won't be helpful when it comes to breaking your own curse, Zeref," Gray sighed, glancing around. "Erza, do you still have a way to get off the island? I figured you might've sent Lucy with them, but I wanted to check."

"The villagers offered to take Lucy back, actually." Happy frowned. "I don't think they like us that much but hey, they helped, so I guess I'm not upset. Plus, they keep letting me have their fish when I'm hungry, so I think these demons are okay with me!"

"Zeref did say they weren't exactly harmful." Gray stared out the window, frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest. "As much as I hate to say it, I don't think he was lying either."

You…believe that demons can be harmless now? Gray was silent, still leaning against the wall and sighing. He didn't want to admit it, not really. Deliora had caused so much suffering and Gray had just assumed all demons would be like that one. Nothing he'd seen said otherwise, after all. Yet, Moka was harmless, Lulu had been kind, Bobo was helpful, and the other villagers just kept to themselves. Hadn't he already told Zeref he was done making assumptions about them before? Interesting. I had thought those opinions of yours were unchangeable. Perhaps you can see reason and accept reality.

"Yeah, well don't expect me to blindly listen to everything you say." Gray glanced over at the others. "After all, if I did that, I'd be somehow thinking that destroying the moon would end your curse."

Did I claim it would do that? I thought I had simply stated that there was no harm in making an attempt. Zeref paused. Though, I suppose that is indeed something I have not attempted in my past. It would be a unique effort, in that sense, and not entirely purposeless.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me to do this again?"

…maybe. It is amusing, to see how you respond to such a request. Gray sighed, no longer having the energy to even be annoyed with his commentary on the matter. For someone to make a joke over a curse they cast, it just seemed insensitive in a way. Then again, Zeref wouldn't have exactly cast the curse if he hadn't thought it was a good idea at the time. He had the opportunity to warn me of the curse, before I gained it. Since you seem so keen on an explanation or justification for why I cursed him in return, I suppose I can at least say that much.

So, Moka knew about the curse before Zeref did? That explained Zeref's rage from before, at least slightly. Either way, it was something to consider later, after he had more information on it. "Hey, Gray?" Natsu was glancing at him, frowning. "I get that you are having some weird mental conversation with Zeref, but I think we should just get going. I mean, we're not gonna make progress just standing around watching you talk to yourself."

Quickly, Gray nodded, shaking his head. "Sorry." He didn't offer any other explanation. It was too distracting, having someone literally speaking inside of his head all of the time. "Let's head out, then."

"I will contact our ride, then." Erza smiled, looking pleased as she took the lead. She pulled out a lacrima and began talking quietly to bring them here. Gray, Natsu, Happy, and Lyon followed her towards the shore, waiting for a boat to arrive and bring them back to Fiore's mainland.

When it did arrive, Gray blinked in surprise. It was a massive boat and a hardy greeting came from onboard. "Ahoy there, Erza! We've come to bring yee and yer companions back ashore."

Pirates. Erza had befriended freaking pirates to get them back to the guild. "Thank you kindly for the ride, Captain." Erza smiled, without issue. Natsu followed with a grin, looking eager to get on board. Likely, the dragon slayer wanted to try fighting some of the burly-looking men aboard and forgot that it was a boat they were standing on. Gray, however, stayed back with Lyon, staring at the ship.

After a moment, Lyon turned towards Gray. "Is that the type of ship I think it is?"

Slowly, Gray nodded, pressing a hand to his hair. "I imagine it is." He glanced over at Lyon, giving him a slight smirk and dropping his hand. "You'll get used to this sort of craziness if you help us out for long enough. Fairy Tail isn't exactly the place to find rational wizards, but we definitely get the job done."

Lyon nodded, staring up at the ship again and hesitating once more. "You guys got rocks for legs? I said we be taking yee home! Get on board, or we'll take to the waters without you!"

The captain's shout seemed to make Lyon move. Gray followed his old friend, getting on the ship and letting the pirates do their work with taking off. On board, Erza quickly ended up preoccupied with pirates asking her for sword-fighting advice. She was sparring with pirates in no time, with Natsu hanging out nearby and trying to not throw up as the ship began to move.

Uninterested in playing with pirates and definitely not interested in dealing with a motion-sick dragon slayer, Gray sat down next to Lyon. "Look…about the other day. Are you still angry with me?"

"For what?"

Gray stared down at his lap, taking a deep breath. "For Ur. I know I've done some stupid things in the past and I don't mean to keep slowing down whatever path you want. But, Lyon, I swear I didn't mean to give you hope and take it away again. I never expected Zeref to even be alive, and yet, here we are."

Lyon turned away, staring at his own lap as well. "It…after some time, and some thought, I suppose I've realized that it wasn't entirely fair to push all the blame onto you." The white haired wizard frowned. "It was myself, after all, who thought Zalty could be trusted. Not only that, but I had worked with Black for years, with no idea who he even was. If anything, Ur leaving on this quest was my own fault. I brought her to Ultear and failed to realize that she wouldn't be willing to just return to our old ways so easily. The two of us, we've changed; Ur has not. It can't be easy for her to deal with."

Oddly enough, that seemed to make Zeref grow sympathetic, the mood shifting rather quickly within the black wizard. Gray ignored him for now, wanting to be focused on the conversation he was having. "Ultear is her family, Lyon. Neither of us have the right to keep her from that, no matter who Ultear might be." Ultear was a dark wizard, but hopefully, Ur could bring her back from that. "Being in a guild has taught me about things like that, you know. At first, I thought I'd hate it. I was always more of a loner and thought doing things on my own was for the best. In some ways, I still stick to that too." He smiled faintly, glancing over to where Erza was sparring with pirates. "But at the same time, a guild doesn't let you go through things alone. People come to you, asking for your help, and they teach you things. Being in Fairy Tail has pushed me into situations that were more than I could handle and has helped me see that to grow stronger, it is best to have people around you to help."

"All that sentimental nonsense doesn't suit you, Gray." Lyon glanced at him, something twinkling in his eyes. "You should stick to your quiet grumbling about getting your revenge. That is the Gray I remember."

"Sorry, but Deliora's gone and I don't have much else to get revenge for."

"Not even against Zeref?" Lyon's eyebrows lifted. "That man created the demon and now he's enslaved you. I'd imagine, if anything, that makes him even more deserving of your anger than Deliora was."

Touching his head, Gray frowned. "Zeref is…complicated." Lyon was right, after all. "I am angry with him, that much I'm certain of. He's stupidly pushing for some sort of sacrificial death that will benefit no one—"

All of my demons will perish with me, if it helps. Clearly, someone will benefit from their lack of existence.

"—or at least, a death that will harm others in the process of gaining it." Zeref didn't correct him this time. "He's the reason I lost my family, the reason Ur nearly died for both of us. Even now, he threatens to kill her, my friends, and to even transform that peaceful village on the island into a group of violent savages like most of his demons are. There's a lot of reasons to hate him and that isn't even getting into what he's personally done to me now."

Ah, yes. Let's not forget that you're under my control, constantly under my watch, able to be killed at a moment's noticed…or well, summoned to use iced shell at least. Killing you would ruin all of the work I've put into this plan up until this point, so no, I'd at least have you use the spell on something. I could always reverse it if the spell hits the wrong target.

"And you don't want revenge? I understand you are trying to change, Gray, but even I haven't wished to move on so drastically." Lyon glanced up at Erza as well, with little else to watch as they traveled. "My goals remain the same; I wish to be the strongest wizard alive and the first stage of achieving that goal is to surpass both you and Ur."

If he wishes to take up your role in this deal, I can offer him a trainer. I have…connections to a powerful ice wizard, who would be more than capable of pushing him to a point that would far surpass you, Ur, or any other ice wizard alive. Well, other than him of course, but that is a bit of a unique situation.

Snorting, Gray shook his head. "What? Did I say something strange?" Lyon frowned at him.

"Not at all. Zeref just wants to offer you some training in return for using iced shell on him at some distant point in the future instead of me," He knew Lyon well enough to know his friend wouldn't agree, even if it would bring him closer to that goal.

"Like I need his assistance in that. The man clearly would only train me in darker aspects of magic and I wish to be a legitimate mage. That way, I can be acknowledged for my talents."

"What, you gonna be a wizard saint or something?"

"Why not?" Gray blinked at him, seeing Lyon smirk. "I am certainly strong enough to fight for that title. Though, I suppose to gain it I would need a reputation established amongst the magic community."

"Yeah, at least that much." He smiled, glad that the topic had moved away from Zeref. For some reason, it felt strange, not wanting revenge against someone he had so many reasons to hate. Gray disliked the guy, certainly, but he still didn't know what he wanted to do about Zeref. For now, he was just too driven to get free from this enslavement spell and change Zeref's mind about iced shell. "If you wanted, you could start by joining a guild, you know. Fairy Tail isn't too picky about who it takes on as a new member, if you felt like sticking around with someone you know."

Lyon was quiet, looking out at the water instead as he turned his head. "I'm not certain if guild life is the path for me."

"It's the path Ur told us to take, if we wanted to get stronger."

That advice had been what pushed them apart, in a strange way. Gray followed every bit of her advice he could remember, clinging to what lessons he had left from his old master. Always know how to make a shield. Always use two-handed ice-make magic. Always remember that imagination is your only limitation. Always remember that there are stronger wizards out there, especially in guilds. Her words were always there, in the back of his mind. Yet, Lyon saw things differently. He remembered her advice and wanted to prove he was greater than all of it, as far as Gray could see.

"Maybe I don't want to just blindly listen and be a follower like you, Gray. In order to be strong, I need to be a leader, someone who makes his own decisions."

"Even leaders listen to the advice of others."

Indeed they do. I'd likely have run…oh, sorry. Shouldn't mention that, in case I do need my last-resort plan in the future. What? Gray frowned, but Zeref's thoughts had grown silent. Still, it implied that Zeref was the leader of something at least. Likely, he led some secret dark guild or cult that no one knew about. Maybe it just referenced his demons, too.

Lyon looked back towards Gray, taking a deep breath. "I'll consider it." He glanced back at Erza. "Though, even if I do consider joining a guild, I'm not certain if these are the sort of activities I'd be fond of being surrounded with all of the time. Natsu seems to be rather dense, Erza is far too strict, and none of you seem to be able to follow a logical plan to complete your goals, if Natsu's insistence on literally attacking the moon is any indication of such things."

Had Natsu continued to insist on actually doing that while Gray was researching Moka's curse? It seemed reasonable, but the guy should've already known it was pointless. "Well, even if you go elsewhere, it's still a step forward." Lyon nodded, growing quiet again. "Are you going to try and find that old group of yours too?"

"Possibly. I told them that I was searching for my own path, after reuniting with my former master." Lyon paused. "I'd assumed they'd do the same."

"Well, who knows? Maybe you'll run into them again one day. At least then, you can have some friends that are familiar with your more recent goals and ambitions than I am." Gray glanced over at Lyon. "Because as much as I'd like to say I understand you…I really don't, Lyon. I never took the time to be your friend when we were kids and I definitely didn't stick by you when we were both suffering from losing Ur."

"I think it was better, that we parted ways." Lyon glanced over at him. "I always saw you as someone that was in my way, stealing away Ur's teachings and attention from me." Lyon paused. "You were my rival and being apart let me grow in my own way, without constantly measuring my strength in comparison to another that was so blatantly nearby for comparison."

"Well, if you really want to test out how far you've come, let me know. I'd be more than happy to have a friendly spar again. I haven't seen you use magic since you started learning dynamic ice-make magic."

"I wanted to be different from you and avoid the boring nature of static ice-make magic which limits yourself due to the lack of motion from your creations." Lyon was smiling faintly and Gray had joined him in the smile. "However, I just may take you up on that soon. It'd be a nice break, from everything going on." He paused, glancing over at Gray. "It is strange. I thought I wouldn't care if I one day learned you had passed on, or that we would not meet again. Yet, oddly, I feel as if I cannot allow this to happen. Losing you to iced shell, just like Ur, it would be too similar to the past." Lyon stared down at his feet, narrowing his eyes. "Whatever happens, we will stop that agreement from coming to completion, Gray. Even if it takes breaking an impossible curse or going up against the gods themselves, we will stop this."

"I don't think going that far will be necessary, Lyon. It is still just a curse." Yet, oddly, Zeref had grown silent again, meditating to hide his thoughts. Gray frowned, trying to think of what exactly would have triggered it. They weren't discussing Natsu and there had been nothing about demons in that conversation. Even if it related to iced shell, it just made no sense. Zeref didn't usually shut down from mentions of his curse either, instead taking it as a chance to make a ridiculous suggestion to frustrate Gray. "Or…maybe it will. We don't know a thing about it, I guess."

Lyon raised his eyebrows at that. "You sound like you are seriously thinking gods are real, Gray. True, religions are out there, but there is no evidence of the existence of a higher race of beings such as them."

"People say the same things about dragons, yet I know someone who was raised by one." Dragons were myths these days, yet there was Natsu and his story, chasing after Igneel so desperately that Gray couldn't help but believe the guy. Plus, Zeref's silence on the entire thing was just too suspicious. "Zeref doesn't grow this quiet unless he has something to hide. Oddly, I'm getting the feeling that gods just might somehow be involved in all of this mess. Either that, or some religion actually describes his curse enough that we'd at least be able to identify it for a change."

Lyon chuckled. "You know, considering the efforts we're making, you'd think he'd actually be trying to assist us. I understand he has a plan in mind, but is eliminating his curse such a bad option?"

It was a valid point. Gray grew quiet, frowning as he thought about it. Eventually, it seemed to be enough to pull Zeref from his meditation, carefully organizing his thoughts to speak. My wariness does not stem from a lack of desire to end this curse. Rather, it stems from a wariness of the potential methods it may require. What did he mean by that? There is, in all likelihood, a high probability that in order to end this curse, one must use a style of magic that would in turn curse them. In other words, it would be no different than merely transferring the curse from one individual to another. That is the only method I've devised that may hold some measure of success…and regardless of how far gone I am, it is a method even I refuse to use.

"You…you know a way to eliminate it?"

Not exactly. I've attempted many things, made theories on what could be done…yet nearly all of them overlap with magic that is forbidden for good reason. Zeref paused again. This is why I say destroying the moon is as good of an option as any, if you wish to legitimately pursue this path. Destroying the moon is just as impossible, and likely more harmless than destroying this curse.

So, he only had brief ideas and nothing solid to actually work with. "And let me guess, you're not willing to share any of this?"

If I won't even tell you the curse's name, do you think I'd share potential methods for eliminating it? That was a good point. I don't want you to look into this. I've wasted my life, seeking out answers, and the only conclusion I've arrived at is that this curse will only end when I've found a way to die. Iced shell is my best option at the moment, as it will be ready as soon as I require it to be used. Surpassing immortality is no simple thing, Gray, and eliminating it entirely is not possible.

Lyon was watching him carefully, frowning. "Is he sharing anything? You look thoughtful."

"Not much." Gray sighed, shaking his head. "All I know is that we're on our own to find answers. Zeref doesn't know of a way to get rid of it himself and he's been searching for a way out for centuries now." Lyon was quiet and Gray raised his eyebrows at his former peer. "Still think we're not gonna have to do something insane like locate actual gods to stop this?"

The sudden silence from Zeref only solidified Gray's hunch that gods were related to this curse, in one way or another. "Considering the obscurity it must have, I suppose it isn't impossible." Lyon paused. "Perhaps dragons are involved. If I remember correctly, none have been seen in the last four hundred years, so it would prevent Zeref from eliminating the curse if a dragon is necessary."

"If we're going that route, we might as well say we need a fairy too." Lyon rolled his eyes, while Gray smirked. "That is the adventure our guild was founded on, after all. Seems rather fitting that we'd need to actually answer that question one day."

"What question?"

"A stupid one." Gray leaned against the side of the ship. "Do fairies have tails?" Lyon chuckled at it and Gray only grinned. "I imagine our founder had a bit of a wild imagination, to base our name off of such a thing. Still, she made a pretty damn good guild." Staring at Erza, Gray smiled. His past was reuniting with his present and in a strange way, things almost felt like they were moving forward. True, he was trapped by Zeref, but he had a strong team working together to find an answer. Somehow, they'd identify Zeref's curse and find a way to get rid of it before Zeref called on Gray to use iced shell.